60 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
affection ; but of course he was unsuccessful in his 
search. 
At Tehri, the headquarters of the native State of 
that name, the arm of justice was not in those days 
always long enough to reach men who had made 
themselves liable te punishment, and, moreover, the 
boundary of Thibet was near and not very Clearly 
defined. In one village on or over the border the 
inhabitants. turned out and massacred two out of 
three Chinese tax-collectors, by the well-known 
method of firing through the flimsy tent till the 
occupants were forced to take the open and meet 
their fate, the third escaping, after weary hiding in 
the hills, into British territory. The Raja’s police, 
who later were sent to apprehend the offenders, were 
glad to be allowed to return with the promise that 
these would present themselves in the winter. The 
true hillman hates the heat and the level ground ; 
he sits naked in the cold wind of the plains, and his 
muscles swell painfully when there are no slopes to 
climb or descend ; so it was that these men deferred 
their trial till the winter, and then of their own 
accord went to receive punishment. In those days 
it would have been unwise to press matters to 
extremity, and the short time of imprisonment in 
the Tehri gaol, where all were under parole to return 
at night after spending the day in earning their 
food, was not so irksome as would be inferred from 
the wording of the sentence. 
The people of the upper hills are wonderful on 
bad ground and in precipices. To follow a coolie 
hampered with his load would often tax the inex- 
perienced mountaineer ; and when these men take off 
